Racist? Ex-judge in his own words, Pt 1

On May 12, Malaysiakini had posted a report on a speech by former Courts of Appeals judge Mohd Noor Abdullah at a forum themed ‘GE13 post-mortem: Muslim leadership and survival’.

In this, he had warned Chinese Malaysians of a backlash from Malays for attempting to seize political power during the 13th general election concluded on May 5.

Mohd Noor (left)received a barrage of criticism from a cross-section of society, including PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim who claimed that the ex-judge was sowing "hatred and discord".
 
UiTM Malaysia Alumni and Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung (GPMS), the joint organisers of the forum, expressed unhappiness with Malaysiakini for having “intruded” into the forum and for the "malicious” report.

Claiming that the report had selectively picked up on Mohd Noor’s remarks, they demanded that the speech be read in full to determine the correct context.

The first of a two-part translation follows of the main points made by Mohd Noor, based on an audio recording of his speech. 

Portions that are inaudible, are an elaboration of points or which are repetitive are indicated as [...].  

Part 1 of the full text in Bahasa Malaysia is available here.

“Allow me to speak the truth, none that is untrue, only but the truth. Thank you.

Let me start by saying, the Chinese betrayal towards the Malay's hand of friendship - that is true. Because they plotted to seize political power even though they already have economic power.

If there are parties that pin the blame on their [Chinese] leaders for misleading them - for the sake of not offending the Chinese - that is up to them.

But for the Malays, the taboo is to be betrayed. Because when Malays are betrayed, they will react and when they react, their wrath will be endless.

I only call on Malays to jihad in upholding the constitution. No one would be against this as the constitution is agreed upon by all communities in Malaysia.

In that case, the first struggle for Malays is to abolish the concept of ‘Malays’, ‘Chinese’, ‘Indian’ and ‘Others’ which has been used since Independence.

When we use the terms ‘Malays’, ‘Chinese’, ‘Indian’, firstly, we give them recognition. Secondly, we rank them according to priority [...]

Should ‘Others’ comprising Sabah and Sarawak bumiputeras, do they deserve to be placed right at the bottom? After ‘Malays’, it is ‘Chinese’, ‘Indian’ and then ‘Sabah and Sarawak bumiputeras’ and ‘Others’. It is wrong. 

So I urge such divisive and racist terms to be abolished, because in the federal constitution, there is no mention of ‘Chinese’, ‘Indian’, ‘Malaysian Chinese’ or ‘Malaysian Indian’, there is none.

So how can we recognise them [...] Let me explain, in the federal constitution, it only mentions four communities - not races - only four communities [i.e the Orang Asli, Sabah bumiputeras, Sarawak bumiputeras and Malays, as elaborated].

[...]

The Orang Asli are our cousins, the Sabah and Sarawak bumiputeras are our relatives, other than that, they are only our neighbours.

Because they came to stay here before, we gave them recognition and protection and finally we gave them citizenship until they became wealthy. Therefore the term ‘betrayal’ is taboo for the Malays.

‘Single-stream schools’

Secondly, according to the constitution, there should only be one stream of school in this country. I use this term - national type schools (SJK) should be ‘abolished’.

I use the term ‘abolish’ because the constitution does not recognise SJKs because the existence of SJK, the existence of Chinese, Tamil and private schools divides the people.

What is a single stream school? During the British era, there was government English schools, so now there should only be primary government schools and secondary government schools [...] that is all.

So the SJKs that exist today, the SJK(C) and SJK(T), we change them to government schools. There will be no ‘type’ schools, only primary and secondary schools.

There, all students will study in the same classroom, eat and drink in the same canteen, play on the same field and court. Only then can there be unity and national integration. Those who disagree are anti-unity.

It is not only right, but we are on jihad to uphold the constitution. If there are schools that oppose, then the way is to obtain a court order [to declare] that the existence of Chinese and Tamil schools is not legal and against the constitution.

There are lawyers here and they can get the court order at the Federal Court [...] that state funds used for Chinese and Tamil schools are not provided for under the constitution.

Look at Article 12 [of the federal constitution]. It states this shall not prejudice the right of the federal government or the state government to establish or help in establishing Islamic schools and incur such expenditure as may be necessary.

For religious schools, the constitution says state funds can be used to set up such schools or to assist those who set up religious schools and to use state funds as much as needed.

Where does it mention Chinese and Tamil schools? There is [no such mention].

‘Economic power’

We are just being defensive, what I said just now, that was defensive. Let's be aggressive now. I say ‘aggressive’ because as I said just now, Malays, when they are betrayed, there will be a backlash.

The Chinese must bear the consequences of the Malay backlash because they already hold economic power and now they want to control political power. If all is taken from the Malays, what could it be? Where is our dignity?

Let us act aggressively. The constitution says that Malay reserve lands declared before Independence will exist until whatever time, and if the status is removed it must be replaced.

After independence, the menteri besar and executive councillors can also declare new Malay reserve lands as provided in the constitution.

What can we do? First, Malay reserve lands should be declared in the cities so that Malays can own houses - not only own houses - but also do business in the cities which, all this while, has been controlled by the Chinese.

The nice term is ‘reorganising society’. The crude term is the emigration of Malays into cities so that houses there, we can own it together with others and not just look at them.

[...]

If there are tourism areas such as Genting Highlands and Gunung Ansi in Negri Sembilan, declare it as Malay reserve land for Malays for tourism [activities]. So we will not just see, we will own them! Do it like that.

Let me use aggressive terms. Why [don’t] we arrange the Malay reserve lands in places to ensure Malay-majority areas for the next general election?

This is aggressive talk - where there are Malay areas, place them there to ensure these are ‘green areas’.

Article 153 (of the federal constitution) talks of the special position of Malays. It has been 56 years but our ownership (of the economy) is still less than 20 percent. Why?

Let me be aggressive and say, arrange a strategy where the Agong will instruct that in 10 years’ time, the authorities must ensure 67 percent ownership (by Malays) in three key areas.

Article 153 guarantees that Malays should be at a comfortable level in the area of education, public service and business.” -Mkini